Wolfpack track and field racks up plethora of personal bests at Duke Invitational

Bryan Pyrtle, Assistant Sports Editor • April 9, 2022

Redshirt junior Nate Kawalec and graduate student Robinson Snider run side-by-side in the Adidas XC Challenge at Wake Med Soccer Park on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. The Wolfpack men’s XC team placed second overall.

The NC State track and field team set several personal bests, including five podium finishes and a new school record in a solid outing at the Duke Invitational April 8-9.

Four of the Pack’s podium finishes came on the second day, including two in the men’s 110-meter hurdles alone. Junior Sam Bush took first in the women’s 800-meter with a personal-best time of 2:04.99, and the Wolfpack men’s 4×100-meter relay clocked a season best of 39.71 seconds for the Pack’s other first-place finish, setting a new meet and facility record to boot.

The men’s 800-meter was another fruitful event for NC State as five Wolfpack runners registered personal bests. Junior Kyle Durham and graduate Gavin Gaynor were the highest finishers of the bunch, finishing ninth and 10th, respectively. Both runners beat the previous school record in the event, but Durham’s time of 1:49.83 set the new mark.

Sophomore Zach Hughes placed 14th, but was separated from Durham by less than one second. Freshman Ares Epps and sophomore Jake Toomey rounded out the Pack’s personal bests in the event, finishing 20th and 21st, respectively.

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Senior Cameron Murray and junior Josh Brockman finished second and third in the men’s hurdles with times of 13.83 and 13.95, respectively. While both figures marked season bests for Murray and Brockman, neither could quite catch Michigan’s Joshua Zeller, who set a new meet and facility record with a time of 13.54 seconds.

Graduate Robinson Snider secured the Pack’s only top-three finish of the meet on the first day, finishing third in the men’s 1500-meter with a personal best of 3:47.57. Sophomore Ian Harrison cracked the top five in that event as well, finishing fourth just 0.18 seconds behind Snider.

The women’s long jump yielded similar results as three athletes scored new personal bests for NC State. Junior Jirah Sidberry placed highest among the trio with a 5.88-meter jump, good enough for fifth in the event. Freshman Zahra Bichara and sophomore Nahsheeda Facey also secured personal bests as Bichara jumped 5.45 meters for 21st place and Facey jumped 5.31 meters to finish 28th.

The Wolfpack will be back in action at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida April 15-16.